apple trees

[FarmlandQDM]

I believe persimmons and plums are a better choice than apple trees for soft mast trees on a QDM farm ... at least I hope so because I planted 2000 last spring ... but I intend to plant four apple trees this spring. Does anyone have a suggestion as to what apple tree varieties would be best suited for providing deer additional soft mast in southeast Iowa?

[Central Iowa]

Excellent articles in the last two issues of Quality Whitetails magazine from the QDMA detailing apple trees. Bill Mayo wrote them and gave his email for additional questions. He operates a orchard in Vermont his email address is sandybay@franklinvt.net. They will hit plums hard mid August to mid September fom my experience.

[JNRBRONC]

Do a google search for disease resistant apple trees. Also look for Miller Nurseries, as I think they sell four varieties (jonafree, macfree) of disease resistant. The last thing you want to do is spray the trees (IMO). Now disease resistance does not mean disease free but it helps.
There is a variety named Haralson http://www.minnesotaharvest.net/appleharalson.htm that was developed in Minnesota so its winter hardiness should not be a concern in southern Iowa. Why I suggest this variety is that it is known for setting heavy fruit loads, so much that it breaks limbs. Since this tree would not need to look pretty, I think a few broken limbs could be tolerated for the heavy production. Some apple trees tend to alternate yearly between heavy and light yields. You might want to try to find out if the variety is a consistent producer.

[Fishbonker]

Not that this will be much help, but I have five apple trees in my yard. I'm not 100% sure of the varieties but I think they are Granny Smith (green) Johnathan (red) Macintosh (red) a crabapple of some kind and another one that was grafted but it is red too. The deer have a definate preference for the grafted tree then the other two reds then the crab followed by the green. To my taste the sweetest ones get eaten first then the Granny Smith last. I think you would be better off planting anything red as opposed to green or cooking apples. They make a great pie, but the deer in my neighborhood like red apples.

The 'Bonker

[bowmaker]

I have several varities of apple trees planted in part pf my yard. The Harleson does produce very well and the fruit stays on the tree a long time. Another tree that ripens early, early August, is the State Fair, also a heavy producer. I don't really care for them, but the different strains of red delicous will also have a lot of fruit and ripens latter into October. You should always plant at least 2 trees so that they will cross pollinate even with those that are listed as self-pollenators because they will produce better. If you are going to plant these trees randomly through your property I would suggest planting two or three varities in one location. If you plant early rippening, mid and late rippening trees you can draw the deer early clear through part of November. Fertilize them well but not with a high nitrogen fertilizer. I always get it mixed up but I thnk you need a lot of potash rather than nitrogen. Remeber that next years apples set on this years new growth so some trees might might produce heavy on year and light or not at all the next, another reason to vary your plantings. Lots of times you can buy trees really cheap as left over stock after the spring planting season on clearance sales.

[Old Buck]

Do you have any details on persimmons? How many years until they produce fruit? Maturity date for fruit? Utilization by deer? Where did you get the trees?

Old Buck

[Shredder]

Will persimmons grow this far north? I have hunted where they are before and early season, things get good around them but the last place I had seen them was in Central Missouri persimmons

[cornfield]

A place that I hunt has some wild plum trees. About the middle of August they were hit hard by the deer. Seems like within a week all the fruit was gone. Only about 2 or 3 trees on the property. I think a large stand of apples would be great. I would think that an acre or two of apple trees would be a huge draw and would hold the deer for a long period of time in the fall.

[Central Iowa]

I read the article again the top varities for wildlife and whitetails areas listed below. These were all recommended for northern growers. Also check out www.NE183.org this is a apple cultivar evaluation project.

Honeycrisp (My personal favorite for human consumption also)

Liberty

Honeygold

Enterprise

Jonafree

Empire

[bjkpharmd]

Honeycrisp is a personal favorite as well. I had seen it mentioned as a good northern apple tree as it holds fruit later than others. Planting and will fence 10 trees this year, I don't know the variety though as I didn't do the order.